Renegade Options
by Artisall
Summary: Both Heroes in their own right, Queens of their separate worlds. Brought together out of necessity, kept together by a force greater than the two could comprehend. Will they see the truth before it's too late or are some destinies meant to die.
1. First Impressions

_**It's been ages since I've written anything so go easy on me. I just finished the Omega DLC and had to write something. This will be a bit of a long one, but I'm not gonna stop until it's done. Excuse any of my grammatical errors, it's late here and I just wanted to get this first chapter out of my head and onto some paper. Anyway, you know the drill, like, follow, review it, do all the things! **_

_**Of course I don't own the characters or anything, that all belongs to Bioware :) (much like my soul). **_

It was dark, dank, dirty and most of all, it smelled of sweaty vorcha. Yes, Omega was the last place Shepard wanted to be, but the dossiers said what the dossiers said. The commander ran her fingers through her short auburn hair, visible air particles rustling around with each movement.

"Isn't Omega lovely in the springtime?" Garrus moved up next to Shepard, his mandibles twitching as he took in the same sights and scents as his friend.

"If I didn't know any better Garrus, I'd say you were actually happy to be here. Sure you don't miss all the infamy and mystery… Archangel?" Jane shoved him with her shoulder, their armor clacking together with a satisfying noise.

"Nope… well, I mean it is rather nice, _was_ rather nice to have people know me as more than that Turian who hung around the first human Spectre." Jane grinned, moving forward through the corridor, letting the red lights guide her to the entrance.

"What about you Miranda? Miss this place?"

The XO shook her head vehemently. "Not in the least… the more time we're here, the more I wish I wore layer after layer of armor, if only to protect me from… this." She motioned to the hordes crowding outside of the Afterlife, each one barking at the Elcor doorman to let them in, begging and pleading, practically offering their first born just to get a minute inside easily the dirtiest club in the galaxy, a place that in Shepard's opinion put Chora's Den to shame.

"Make way, Spectre coming through!" Shepard shook her head at her tall Turian friend. At least people moved when he spoke.

The crowd parted like the Red Sea, some simply standing and gawking others whispering, their hushed tones creating quite a cacophony. The commander hated it. She didn't like being the center of attention. She was just a soldier with a ship, nothing more nothing less. All of the fame was just her doing her job.

"Easy Garrus, no need to alert the whole station."

They entered Afterlife, the smell of liquor smacking them straight in the face as the doors slid open. At least it was better than Vocha sweat, Shepard thought, pushing through the mindless crowds, bodies writhing against each other as awful music blared through the speakers. She was here on a mission, no time to partake in the festivities even if she wanted to.

"No one speaks to Aria unless she summons you." Shepard shoved the Batarian out of the way with ease, Miranda flaring her biotics as the man raised his gun in protest.

"Commander… you know I hear it's human tradition to knock before barging in on someone. Or is that too old fashion for the Great Jane Shepard ?" Aria stood, looking out over the floor of Afterlife, never once turning to physically acknowledge the Spectre's presence.

"Sorta hard to knock Aria…. No doors." Shepard stood tall, firm only a few feet away from the Asari, arms crossed confidentially as she let her weight slide to one side.

"What brings the famous human to my domain this time? A search for yet another assassin? Or do you simply enjoy risking your life by pushing my buttons?"

"We're looking for a Salarian doctor, Mordin Solus." Miranda spoke up, voice cold, deadpan, her chest puffing out slightly as if she and the Asari were alphas about to compete for a piece of meat.

"Ah, yes, I know him. Interesting man, the doctor, I like him. Heal you with one hand, shoot you with the other. Quite respectable. You'll find him in the clinic, through the plague infested apartments. Thought he could cure Omega's disease by throwing himself right in the middle." Shepard glanced down at her omni tool, lighting up the location Aria was speaking of.

"Perfect. Thanks Aria." Shepard didn't even look at the Asari as she turned towards the stairs to leave.

"You won't be thanking me when Vorcha are ripping out your insides… but." Aria paused when she observed how nonchalantly the commander had essentially used her for information and then tossed her aside like an old toy with one simple motion. "Whatever." Shepard didn't even hear the last word, the sounds of Afterlife drowning out all noise as the Vanguard moved down the stairs and out the back entrance. "Bray. Follow them. I want to know everything." The batarian nodded, heading after the small party as they exited.

"You know, Shepard, Aria isn't someone you want as an enemy." The commander looked at her XO, cheeky grin on her face.

"She's also not someone I want on my side either, Miss Lawson." Fair point, Miranda thought as she followed the two old friends through the winding corridors of Omega. She hadn't been with Shepard very long, but it was obvious the soldier was very adept at judging character, seeing in someone what most people don't. Maybe that's why it felt so easy to trust her so openly.

Mordin didn't take much convincing and it was understandable. The chance to fly on one of the most advanced ships in the galaxy with unlimited resources to study a race few had even met.

"Commander, before I come with you, must stop the plague. Reason I'm here. Can't leave job undone, someone else might get it wrong. Yes, disperse antidote, then onto Collectors, both equally important. One before the other, no time to waste. Go."

"Fine Mordin, give us the cure, we'll do the dirty work."

"Shouldn't be too dirty, most batarians dead, some may think quite an improvement." The commander shook her head, taking the vials and heading in the direction of the vents. The vanguard was used to these sort of missions, everyone wanted… needed something, hardly anyone willing to give without asking for anything return. It was natural, why do something for someone else if you gain nothing from the exchange. Shepard just wished her part of the bargain was less bloody from time to time.

"Aria, they're headed towards the vents past the apartments, looks like they're doing the lizard's grunt work. According to the pretty human they won't be here much longer. Bray out."

Aria tapped the toe of her boot against the steel floor. If one looked closely enough, they'd see the gears rapidly turning in her brain. Shepard was one that needed a closer inspection. Aria was both glad and a bit sad to hear of the Commanders planned departure. One less famous person on Omega meant more attention for her, but it also meant that she wouldn't be able to really test the savior of the Citadel, a task she was looking forward to doing. "Next time Commander… you'll be back, they always come back."


	2. A 'Friend' in Need

**Thanks to those who have read/reviewed/done all of the others things you can. Any feedback is good feedback in my opinion. This chapter is more of a set up/in between sort of thing. I'm traveling so I've only got my Ipad, please be kind and ignore any major grammatical errors, it's a tiny screen. **

**Of course all credit to Bioware, I don't own any of these characters... but oh the things I'd do to them if I did ;) **

_p.s there will be more shep/aria to come, don't ya'll worry your pretty little heads. _

Shepard had seen enough of Omega to last a lifetime. Five showers and three decontamination later and the Commander still felt the slime stuck to her skin. At least she had gotten what she needed, Mordin and Garrus. And she supposed Miranda was halfway right, Aria was a good person to have on your side, or at least a person you didn't particularly want as an enemy. Even if Shepard wanted nothing more than to push the Asari's buttons. It was a bad habit of the Vanguards, she liked poking and prodding things that were most likely to bite back.

"Commander. You wanted to see me?" Shepard looked up at her XO standing in her doorway.

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you about these next dossiers. What do you know about them, the data doesn't say much past the usual biography crap. I need whatever you have on them, dirt, praise, anything. We're already dealing with reapers coming at us from the front, I don't need to worry about the people against my backside."

Miranda nodded and sat down on Shepard's couch, crossing her legs as she flicked on her omni-tool. "Well.. there's the psychotic cerberus experiment. Jack. She's powerful, a bit of a loose cannon, but the Illusive Man insists she's an asset we don't want to overlook. I have my doubts. You should know by now I'm not a fan of uncertainty, Shepard."

The commander smiled, falling back into the cushion next to Miranda. "Yes, I'd say that is one of the few sides of your personality I do, in fact, know about... speaking of wanting to get to know the people on my team, what's your story Miranda? Besides the whole perfect biotic facade you hide behind?" Miranda was slightly shocked at Shepard's forwardness. It was unexpected. Up until now, the commander had been reserved, almost stand-offish in their conversations.

"Perfect? I never said I was perfect Shepard, no one is, but I'm pretty damn close." She smiled, flipping her hair almost on purpose, feeling far more relaxed with her commanding officer than she should. "Not much to tell really Shepard. My father engineered me to be flawless, the perfect woman, and most would say he came rather close..." Miranda was gauging the vanguard's reaction, testing the waters to see how far Jane really wanted to take this. If she was going to lay out her life story for the Commander to dissect, she wanted something in return.

"So you're telling me all that's ever happened to you was your creation and joining Cerberus. I highly doubt that... What made the Illusive Man decide to put you in charge of such a valuable asset like myself?" Jane's eyebrow cocked itself upwards, challenging Miranda to take this little game farther.

"Fine... I did after all spend two years learning everything there was to know about you, only fair I let you in on a few of my secrets." Miranda paused, thinking, wondering how far she should go, how much she should let go of yet still keep enough in.

Miranda told her story, almost all of it, start to finish, of course the biotic left a few bits and pieces up to Shepard's imagination, but it wasn't as if anything Miranda had done was that incriminating anyway. Before the two women knew it, they were on a course headed to pick up Jack, the unstable psycho.

Eventually they picked up all the crew, everyone from the dossier the Illusive Man provided. All in all, Shepard was happy with her team, it felt solid, an odd hodgepodge of soldiers, some aliens, which surprised Jane, considering Cerberus' previously xenophobic attitude.

"Shepard, the Illusive Man wishes to speak with you." Of course he does, the Commander thought, waving a somewhat annoyed thank you towards Kelly Chambers as she head the 'swoosh' of the door to the comm room open.

"Shepard, we have a lead... a collector ship of all things. We can't let this bit of information go, I need you to go, follow the Turian distress signal and find this ship. It could hold all the answers we've been searching for."

Shepard wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, wanted to spit in his holographic face and shove that cigarette straight up his arse. But she could. He was the reason she was standing here in the first place, and at least for now, an enemy of her enemy was an ally... for now.

"Load up everybody. We're hitting a collector base in two days." Shepard didn't say anything else. There wasn't much else she could say honestly. Shepard headed back to the captain's cabin, praying some sleep would come before they reached the ship.

Of course, the commander was never that lucky. The minute her head hit the pillow, her terminal beeped, not once, not twice but three fucking times. Obviously something was important, but if it was so urgent, why wasn't EDI saying anything about the messages. Something wasn't right.

The Commander shook off the sleep from her eyes, stretching weerily as she made her way over to the console. Three separate messages from three different accounts.

J.S

Need to clean house. Got a bit messy here. Come over as soon as you can, bring lots of decontamination equipment.

-QO

It made no sense... not really, Cleaning something up? Who is QO? Shepard racked her brains attempting to pick her brain for anyone or anything that would have those initials. She clicked on the next message, hopeful that maybe these were connected somehow.

Jane,

You'd think this place just got over some sort of plague, filth everywhere, too many dead bodies. Could use your help sorting through this.

- QO

Again with the QO and the information about cleaning. A plague... this couldn't be from Omega... could it? It was the only place Shepard had ever encountered a plague of any kind... QO... she clicked on the next message before even giving the initials much thought.

Shep,

I'm sure you'd find a lot of interesting things if you'd come help me. After the dirt washes away, there'd definitely be things worth discovering here. I'll make it worth your wild.

-QO.

Queen of Omega. Aria... Aria T'loak. Of course. So the great Aria was calling upon Commander Shepard. A small cocky grin creeped onto the biotic's face. Perfect, it was great to be on neutral terms with someone like Aria, even better if that someone ended up owing you a favor, and like she stated in her somewhat cryptic emails, there were 'things' worth discovering'. Jane knew that the Asari wouldn't have asked for help if she didn't absolutely need it. This wasn't good, whatever it was and Aria, mostly likely knowing full well what sort of mission the commander was on, might have a bit of information to toss her way when the dust settled.

"Joker, we'll be heading back to Omega after the Collector base. I've got some unfinished business to attend to."


	3. Unexpected Allies

**Yes, another update. The muse hit me and I had to run with it. I'm not sure how many folks are actually reading this story, but to those who are, I hope you like it. Action scenes aren't my forte, but I gave it a shot. :) Also, still on my Ipad, so excuse any typos etc. **

**Again, I own nothing (Bioware has it all), but if I did, both Samara and Aria would've been romance options from day one. I may have an Asari problem... **

The collector base was easy, too easy. They had been expecting them, lured the whole Normandy straight into a trap with the help of the very man Shepard had been working for.

"What the fuck was that?! You knew about the fake signal, you knew that ship was just bait for us to bite at?! You risked my crew and my life, one you spent millions of credits on just for a bit of information?!" Her blood was boiling, face bright red, hands practically shaking in anger.

"I did what I had to do, Shepard. We needed that intel, intel that could very well change the course of your entire mission. I had no choice."

"Fuck you. Honesty is always a choice..."

"Shepard, what matters now is you're not dead, your crew is fine and we have the information we need. Start tying up all of your loose ends, we're close to ending this."

"Fine. Shepard out." Jane stepped away from the comm link, desperately wishing there was something not attached to the ship that should could throw hard enough to shatter.

"Shepard... go rest. Joker has already plotted a course towards Omega liked you ask, we'll be there in no time. Get some shut eye." Garrus placed a calming hand on her shoulder. hoping at least the presence of a familiar friendly would help quell her rage.

"Fine... wake me at 30 til." Garrus nodded and Shepard pushed past the turian, heading straight for her cabin, not even giving so much as a nod to Chambers as she passed.

QO,

Be there in a few hours. Bringing all my cleaning gear. Better make good use of me.

-JS.

"I could've sworn we said we'd never come back here..." Garrus glanced around the dock, mandibles twitching again as the familiar odor of crime seeped into his pours.

"Duty calls..." The vanguard shrugged.

"You mean Aria calls..." Miranda moved up next to her commanding officer, eyeing her slightly as if the biotic would be able to judge Shepard's motives by the look on her face.

"Wasn't it you that stated the last person we should have on our bad side was one Aria T'Loak?" The XO shook her head and moved out in front of the group, making her way down the dark corridor.

"Somethings not right here Commander. It's too... qui..." Before Miranda could finish her sentence a loud explosion rocked the whole room they were standing in, all three crew members stumbling as they attempted to regain balance.

"That's not a good sign..." Shepard moved up slowly, shotgun at the ready as she peered around the corner. "Cerberus..." the shock in Jane's voice was apparent as her eyes fell to the logo on the armor of a group of men, including an engineer that had obviously been responsible for that loud explosion moments ago.

"Miranda, what are Cerberus doing here?" Her tone was accusatory, rightfully so, considering directly past the troops ahead there was also a pile of bodies, civilian bodies from the looks of it, lying dead at Cerberus' hands.

"I don't know Shepard, this... I was not aware of this mission. Despite popular belief, the Illusive Man doesn't tell me everything." That answer wasn't good enough for Jane.

"This is too far, even for Omega... we need to get around them... no firing. Not until we know more. The last thing I need is to have both the Collectors and Cerberus out for my head." Garrus and Miranda nodded. The XO motioned to what looks like an air ventilation shaft to the left of them, a few feet behind the heavily armed troops between them and Afterlife. Shepard gave the signal and his squad of two went on head, Miranda throwing a small biotic pulse across the ground, enough to knock over barrels in the opposite direction of their movement. The noise was just enough to get the distract the soldiers from not noticing the three people sneaking straight past them.

Once inside the vents, the team moved quickly, heading in what Shepard was pretty sure was Afterlife. She flipped out her omni-tool quickly typing out a message.

QO,

Your vents need a good cleaning. Nasty business, but I can probably get it spotless in about ten minutes.

JS.

"Is now really a good time to be sending love messages to Aria?" Garrus shook his head at his friend.

"It's not a love message, it's letter Aria know... in a round about way, that we're coming through the vents and not to shoot at the first grate the moves." Miranda shrugged and continued to move through the narrow passageway. Soon the tunnel they were in began to change colors, the purplish pink lights of the night club seeping in through fan blades and cracks in the structure.

"Here..." Jane waved her omni-tool in front of the grate, the clips holding it together instantly popping off; however, before she could reach out to move the heavy chunk of metal out of her way, a flash of blue light all but blinded her as Aria's biotics surrounded the metal, pulling it off and then throwing it to the side.

"We are lucky Cerberus is full of idiots... or you'd have been burned alive in the vent, with all the noise you were making."

Aria stood in front of Shepard, tall, powerful, arms folded as if looking on the Commander in shame.

"Hey, I'm here aren't I? If you'd rather I just head back to my ship and make my way through the Omega 4 relay, I'll gladly leave you and your station to deal with your Cerberus problem, lord knows, I've got plenty of their messes to clean up already," Jane turned around as if she was going to climb right back into the vents from where she came.

"They've attacked the city, full force, the apartments... the people you saved from the plague, all dead. burned alive in a Cerberus explosion. Normally I wouldn't care, but they decided I was next, came straight for Afterlife..."

Shepard stopped, noticing the slight falter in Aria's voice. It was not a weakness she was used to hearing from the Queen of Omega.

"Why? What does Omega have that Cerberus wants?" Shepard leaned against the bar, tempted to even pick up a drink and sip on it as she listened to the queen herself, but with her luck it would've been some sort of Krogan ale that would've killed anyone without regenerative health.

"Omega has many things to offer Shepard, you might be surprised... we're not all criminals and psychopaths..." Aria moved around the bar, her mercs standing where the dancers used to be. There even seemed to be some civilians scattered around, refugees that were lucky enough to be in the bar at the time of the attack.

"There is a massive Eezo mine... worth billions of credits. And then there's Omega's most valuable asset... yours truly." Shepard couldn't help by stiffle a giggle.

"You? What would Cerberus want with a pissed off Asari with a stick up her ass." Garrus and Miranda froze, even the mercs seemed to stop breathing. Jane internally braced for impact, knowing as soon as the words left her mouth that she just shoved that stick she mentions farther up the asari than was safe.

Aria was at Shepard's side in an instant, a huge barrier engulfing them, forcing everyone, including Jane's crew to stand by as the Asari delivered her punishment. The Queen pinned the Vanguard against the nearby wall, their bodies pressed against one and another, armor being the only thing separating Shepard from the exposed skin of Aria's stomach.

"You're lucky you're saving the Galaxy... Each time I meet you, my desire to crush you grows exponentially."

"Crush me under the weight of your body maybe."

Aria's eyes went black, her hands gripped Shepard's shoulders.

'just try me commander, push a few more buttons and see how much I care about the galaxy then. You're just some human baby who's had a bit of lucky, nothing more nothing less and I've kill people like you for centuries. You're useful now, but the minute I stop needed the help of the great Savior of the Citadel, you'll want to watch that mouth of yours.'

Shepard's mine was in agony, Aria invading her senses, practically screaming at her from the inside. But she didn't flinch, didn't move a muscle, her walls refusing to budge even with the beating she was mentally taking.

Aria was impressed, lesser minds would've crumbled, legs of a regular human would've collapsed under the pressure, becoming putty in the Asari's hands. But not Jane Shepard, no, there was more resolve, strength. Aria couldn't help but admire the life of the woman she was threatening.

'I have your back'. It was all Shepard said or didn't say. Her mind communicating the thoughts to the woman pressed against her. It was enough though, the barrier dropped, Aria's eyes returned to their natural blue and Jane could feel her legs again, the weight of her armor sinking into her skin, bring her back to 'Earth' so to speak.

"We move out in 10, gather your equipment. I want two units in the vents, you'll assault them from behind. Shepard I want your little Cerberus bitch and the turian to come at them from above, there is an observation deck at the top, that ladder to the right will take you there."

"Commander... we can't fire on Cerberus troops... not without knowing why they are here and if this is in fact an order from the Illusive Man himself or a rogue unit."

The commander nodded. "EDI, we've got Cerberus here, they're taking down civilians, advise us on this situation." There was a pause, and then her Omni tool lit up.

"Commander, this seems to be a rogue group, pirates who have branched off from Cerberus recently. The Illusive Man has been hunting them down, they took out two labs and the rest of an Earth Colony in the past month. You are authorized to terminate them."

Jane would've done it anyway. The only reason was lying in front of her, refugees from the attack huddled around their loved ones, medic crying out for more support... that was all the 'authorization' she needed, but at least now Shepard wouldn't have to fight one of her own crew members in the process.

"Satisfied Miranda?"

"Yes Shepard." The XO smiled, pleased that Jane had been thoughtful enough to not challenge her hesitations too far.

"If you're done making kissy faces with the cheerleader, we have work to do Shepard. You're with me... a frontal assault." Aria smiled, her eyes almost glowing as she grabbed her assault rifle and moved towards the large door of Afterlife.

"You're doing this to get me back for my comment earlier aren't you? Throwing me in the line of fire..." The asari grinning devilishly as she tugged Shepard past the makeshift barriers the civilians had constructed.

As they neared the main entrance, Aria stopped, flicking her omni-tool open and turning on the speaker.

Her face lit up the front of Afterlife, the large video monitor broadcasting her voice and image across all of Omega.

"Cerberus scum... you won't survive, you can't win. Omega is mine and you won't even be able to pry this rock from my dead hands. Turn back now and I'll consider letting you go with only a few hours of pain... or prepare to join the bodies of those you've littered around my throne." She signed out as quickly as she had logged on, the screens around the station going black.

"Now Shepard, Go team 1 and 2." There was a large explosion as the doors to Omega blew open, shots fired over their shoulders as the two woman took to cover on opposite sides of the open doorway. Engineers began setting up turrets as Aria's ventilation squads began to rain slugs down upon them. Garrus was a good shot, nailed two square in the face before they could even put their backpacks down. Miranda providing a barrier for both him and herself with one hand as her other threw biotic blasts, knocking over multiple foot soldiers.

The rogue group surely seemed large in number, but definitely not the great and brightest Cerberus had to offer, since most of them practically ran into the fray, becoming cannon fodder for Aria's assault. Shepard manager to overload not one but two centurions before blowing their brains out with the power of her shotgun.

"Snipers, Garrus!" Shepard yelled, spotting their red sights up high on balconies overlooking the main level.

"Not a chance, there's only one sniper on this rock." Garrus had fired both headshots before the other agents even had time to get their finger on the trigger of their guns.

"Bigger problems Shepard... MECH!" Miranda yelled, throwing an Overload straight at the large machine. It hardly missed a beat, it's large legs shaking the ground as it moved towards the main entrance. This mech had one goal, one target, Aria T'Loak.

It was a gut reaction, one Shepard wasn't expecting to have. Sure if Tali, Miranda, Garrus, anyone on her team had been in Aria's position the move would've made perfect sense. The Commander often sacrificed herself to save another member of the squad. But for Aria T'Loak... why would she? The asari was a criminal, the queen of renegades, with a moral compass to match. But the Queen was tired. No matter how powerful she may have been, this much gunfire was bound to wear out even the strongest biotic. Aria's barriers were down, recharging slowly. Too slowly.

It wasn't even a thought process, it was a simple movement, happening in a matter of seconds. Shepard saw the missile fly out of the arm of the mech, everything moving in slow motion. Her body lit up, blue energy surrounding her armor as it flew towards both the missile and it's origin.

"Shepard!" The commander wasn't sure who had yelled her name, she couldn't hear a damn thing as her torso collided with the hunk of flaming metal, the missile exploding on impact. But it didn't stop the vanguard, her body surrounding the flames caused by the blast, the biotics of the charge carrying the brunt of the explosion straight back to the mech, driving the machine hard into the steel floor of Omega, splitting the ground straight open.

The commander knew that was only the first explosion, the mech was now a ticking time bomb, its interior parts short circuiting. There was no time for her to move, it was too late. So she held onto the hunk of metal beneath her, bracing for the impact that was bound to rip straight through her armor.

Everything was quiet, no more gunfire, no more screaming. Nothing. Jane watched as the fire shot out from underneath her, tossing her body away from the mech. She had just enough time to charge one more biotic, a nova. Her power with the brunt force of the explosion would be enough to launch any remaining cerberus troops right over the side of the platform and to their death.

Jane's body went limp mid air, her eyes wide open to view the carnage below as the enemy flew past her. She'd join them eventually, once she began her decent into the ground. This was how it would all end, again. At least this time she could breathe, she could see that those she'd care for were safe, see that her sacrifice wasn't in vain.

"NO!" It was all she heard, the word echoed against the side's of her head, bouncing around until she felt it reverberate all the way down to her toes. Shepard closed her eyes.


End file.
